New Hanover County, CFPUA start work on sewer projects

Wednesday

Jan 1, 2014 at 6:07 PM

The heavily debated $16.7 million sewer projects are in the Marquis Hills and Heritage Park neighborhoods.

By Ashley WithersAshley.Withers@StarNewsOnline.com

Partnering together, New Hanover County and the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority have started work on the heavily debated $16.7 million sewer projects in two county neighborhoods.Officials with the county and the authority submitted engineering plans to the state in early December for the new sewer systems in Marquis Hills and Heritage Park, as well as plans to extend CFPUA's water system to Heritage Park.CFPUA spokesman Mike McGill said construction on the two projects will likely begin in July.The Marquis Hills and Heritage Park subdivisions ranked first and second, respectively, on the city and county's 2007 list of high-priority areas with failing septic tanks in the county. Heritage Park is in the northern part of the county near North 23rd Street and Castle Hayne Road, and Marquis Hills is in the southern part of the county near Carolina Beach and Sanders roads.The project will remove the septic tanks in the Marquis Hills and Heritage Park communities and hook the nearly 1,000 properties into the authority's system.The current system has contaminated the land and surface water in the area. Some of the homes are designed for washing machine discharge to be piped directly onto surrounding properties, and some have even been rendered uninhabitable because they do not have a viable system of waste disposal.After rejecting the proposal February and months of heated debate, the New Hanover County commissioners reversed course in May and unanimously approved a plan to fund the sewer projects. This delayed decision came just in time to let the county meet its deadlines to keep the 20-year Clean Water State Revolving Loan that will pay for the projects up front.New Hanover was approved in late 2012 for a $17 million state loan to help replace these septic systems. To remain eligible for the loan, the project must adhere to a time schedule set by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.The plans had to be submitted by December 2013, and they must be finalized and approved by March. This loan keeps the county's interest rate at 2 percent annually. The county will not incur debt on the projects until the 2017 budget year.CFPUA and the county are partnering on the project, with the county handling most of the funding and the authority taking the lead on the actual construction.CFPUA did agree to pay the engineering costs for the project, as well as an additional $2,500 per lot. The agreement also has the authority shouldering the cost for extending the water system to Heritage Park at a cost of $500,000.CFPUA set aside $4.2 million in its capital improvement plan for the project.McGill said public outreach to the homes impacted by the new water and sewer systems will begin in the spring. Both the Marquis Hill and Heritage Park projects are expected to be completed by 2016.